He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it.
Douglas Adams, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
There is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.
Herman Melville, "Moby Dick"

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Weekend in Normandy

I went to Normandy this last weekend. Friday, the 11th, was a holiday, so my German friends and I decided to get away from Paris. I am really glad we went because Normandy made my list as the #2 reason to love France. It was beautiful.....cold, but beautiful. We spent a lot of time walking on the beach and driving through sea-side towns. Honfleur, Deauville and Etretat were are three major stops. Honfleur is a busy, little town where many people from Paris visit during their holidays. Deauville is much bigger and has a 'big city feel' to it. It has a rather large casino and many resturants that cater to tourists. Etretat is located alongside large cliffs and is also a large tourist town. I liked each of these places, but was mostly just glad to get out of the city for a weekend. On our way back, we stopped at several D-day invastion sites. Driving was a little terrifying in Paris and the toll bridge charges were way too much (I think we paid about 25 Euros just to drive on the highway the first day and then 10 Euros the following days just to cross the bridge.). It was nice having a car for the weekend though, because we got to see a lot more things than if we had just been on foot. However it was not nice paying for gas (over 40 Euros to fill up). If you are coming to France, you really must go to Normandy!